Muggle

Origin

Meogeul is the Korean rendering of "Muggle," a word from British author J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. In the books it refers to ordinary people with no magical ability at all, as opposed to wizards and witches. On the Korean internet, it has settled in as fandom slang for "regular people" who aren't immersed in a particular culture such as idols, anime or webtoons.

Although the author coined it, the word seeped into real-world English as the series became a global phenomenon. According to Korean Wikipedia, the Oxford English Dictionary added "muggle" in its 2003 edition, defined as a person who lacks a particular skill or is regarded as inferior in some way. American dictionaries also listed it, both with Rowling's original meaning and as slang for an ordinary person. It is a prime example of an invented fictional term becoming part of the real vocabulary.

Spread

In Korea, its use expanded into a way of drawing the line between "inside" and "outside" fandom culture. The original sense of an ordinary person outside the wizarding world shifted naturally to mean someone who doesn't know the world you're immersed in. Ridibooks' official blog describes muggle as a term widely used in fandom contexts such as idols, webtoons and web novels, and notes that casual "light fans," as distinct from devoted fans, are sometimes called "muggle fans."

This usage pairs with fan culture in which people call themselves deokhu, roughly "otaku." If someone deeply into a hobby calls themselves a deokhu, those around them with no interest in it become muggles. It is less an insult than a light distinction meaning "someone who doesn't get our inside jokes," and fans also use it as a yardstick of mainstream reach when describing their interests, as in "I even recommended it to my muggle friend" or "a song even muggles know."

Usage

• Referring to friends or family who don't know fandom culture as "muggle friends" or "my muggle family"
• "A song even muggles know," meaning something has reached people beyond the fandom
• "Muggle fans" for casual fans, as distinct from core fans

Sources

• Korean Wikipedia, "Muggle" — the definition in Harry Potter, its entry and definition in the 2003 Oxford English Dictionary, American dictionaries listing it as slang for an ordinary person
• Ridibooks official blog, "What is a muggle? What does muggle mean?" — the original meaning and its English use for ordinary people, its use in idol, webtoon and web novel fandoms, "muggle fans" meaning light fans